The Lipstick Clique

Death could soothe me like music could move me. It could cover me like lotion and moisturize my life’s dry shell. It could be my savior, my lover and comforter whenever Life decides to cheat on me and leave me emotionally disabled. I have come to think of death as something to look forward to, as opposed to something I fear. Death has become more than a dependent; it has also become a result.

The result of what happens when someone steps out of line. Death has become a proven method to prevent hate-blood containing, maggot ass suckers from reproducing. It has become a tool, much like a screwdriver or drill; it really comes in handy when dealing with people with missing screws.

My name is Treasure… I once took a vacation as a school teacher, and returned home as a convicted murderer and prison escapee. It all happened because someone I loved betrayed me, and then I was betrayed again.

You may not know me or my story. You may have never heard of me. You may think that I’m just the average female with another sad tale to tell. But that is so not the case.

In fact, so much has taken place in my twenty odd years, that I don’t even have the time to explain it to you. I don’t have the patience to sit and watch your eyes raise in amazement, your lips frown in discomfort, your head shake in disbelief.

The only thing that I will be able to offer you is the present day, the current moment, my life –live and direct!

 
So if you’re a real nigga or a real bitch like me… all I can tell you is to strap your seatbelt on. And duck! Because this nigga just tried to kill the killers.

 
He missed.

 
Probably because he just wanted to scare us. Maybe he just wanted to do that so that he could frighten us into giving him his money back. Maybe he just wasn’t a good shooter. Maybe he wanted to fuck us first.

Whatever his dilemma was… It sure wasn’t mine.

Ka-louwww
!
Ka-louwww
!

Two shots was all Treasure needed in order to remove the threat from her life. The first bullet ran through Rally’s head like a blood vessel. The second shot penetrated his body like a BC Powder with the same bitter aftertaste. The bullets put separations in Rally’s skin that made it look like two additional ears were added to him. Blood splattered like hot grease from the impact of the hot lead.

The sound of gunfire echoed from one end of Treasure’s consciousness to the next. After the echo wore off, she quickly dismissed it. She stood there in a disgusted trance as she watched Rally’s body slump to the pavement on top of his shotgun. She wanted to spit on his body, but knew better than to leave any type of bodily fluids lying around a crime scene. She stared at Rally in a daze. He had just tried to kill her and had failed.

He carried the results of immediate vengeance on his face; it was stored in the smiling frown of death.

“Treasure, let’s go Hun!” Skye hollered for the fifth time in a row. She was a pivotal part of The Lipstick Clique; a gang that Treasure started after she successfully escaped prison while doing time for murder.

Milan, Skye’s twin sister, was still ducked down in the seat shaking. They’d been in shoot-outs before, but this was the closest that Milan had ever come to receiving shotgun shells. Rally had been in close range when he fired his weapon, and for him to miss them all… Milan knew that there could have been no one but God in the car with them.

“Treasure! What are you doing!?!” Skye screamed as she saw Treasure staring at the ground. “This nigga is dead, and we need to get the fuck out of here before the uniforms come! Let’s go!!!”

Treasure ignored her and kept staring at the ground until she found exactly what she was looking for. She reached down and grabbed the gas cap off the ground. When Rally fired the shotgun, she’d dropped the gas cap in order to grab her pistol. There was no way that she was going to leave a gas cap behind that had her fingerprints on it. Treasure was against petty mistakes.

“Skye, is Milan ok?!” Treasure screamed as she hurriedly got back into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“I’m fine, Treasure.” Milan said as she slowly lifted her body off of the floor and looked around. “I’m fine…”

As Treasure swerved around the gas pump, Milan spotted a group of girls staring at them wide-eyed and pointing. “Treasure, stop the car!” Milan screamed instantly.

 
Treasure hit the brakes, thinking that something bad had happened. She had no idea that instead, something bad was
about
to happen.

Milan jumped out of the car with her pistol out and ran up to the group of girls who were staring and pointing. “Bitch, what the fuck you pointing at ho?!”

The ladies appeared to be between the ages of 18-22, Asian, and they all had on karate uniforms and black belts. Treasure was instantly concerned. The last time Milan jumped at a chick, she got her ass beat to sleep. Treasure just wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen again. “Milan! Back in the car! NOW!”

But Milan wasn’t trying to hear that shit. Her adrenaline was on ultra-speed because of the attempted murder. She was jumpy, twitching, and hyper; out of control.

“Bitch, I don’t give a fuck about that karate shit! I know nine-a-
millimate
!” Milan screamed as she pointed her weapon in the women’s faces.

“What the fuck girl!?” Skye, her twin sister screamed at her from behind.

Realizing that she had made an irrational decision, Milan decided that she would attempt to make the best out of it. “Gimme the keys to this raggedy shit! Now!” She screamed at the taller Asian girl who was carrying the keys.

 
She turned to Treasure and Milan. “Let’s roll, we gotta ditch that shit, we’ll push this whip!” But as soon as she turned her neck, the taller girl attempted to seize the pistol out of her hand. Not a smart move.

Skye shook her head as she sat there and watched Milan shoot up the entire Asian karate gang.
Got damn fool! This crazy ass bitch!

Treasure shook her head in embarrassment. She had invested a lot of time and energy into making her mob the coldest and rawest street gang to ever exist, and to see these types of senseless results, made her feel that all of her dedication to the gang was for nothing. Seeing Milan jump into the Toyota Celica, she hit the gas and burned rubber leaving the gas station.

__________

“We have video footage of a gas station massacre that has left three people dead, and one person in critical condition, however, we will not air this out of respect for the victim’s families. The FBI is clearing up the photo files of the suspects, and we will have them available in the next hour. From what we know at the studio, one of the suspects is the prison escapee, Treasure Brown, better known as one half of the Bonnie and Bonnie duo.

She has been living on the run for two years now, and there is already a million dollar reward for information leading to her capture. If you have any information, please don’t hesitate to call 1-800-CrimeStoppers.”

An older photo of Treasure was displayed across the television screen. The photo showed her when she had long black hair and a brilliant smile. The way her appearance was now, she felt as if she could walk through the precinct, ask for more information about herself, and still not be recognized. Her hair was shorter and her skin had more stress added to it. Her smile was darker and her eyes were colder. She turned the volume down on the television and glanced over at her clique. Skye was counting money and Milan was snoozing.

Skye counted the last bundle of cash and wrapped it with Saran Wrap and electric tape. She removed her stilettos and leaned back against the luxurious leather couch. Her black hair framed her face as she closed her eyes in the presence of money and love. With her eyes closed, she spoke to Treasure. “
Mami
, why are you crying?”

Treasure wiped her tears away and took a deep breath. Skye was always deeply in tune to whatever she was going through, and she felt it amazing to have such a strong family connection to her. She just wished that Milan would get it together at times, because the way that she was wilding out in the streets, she was sure to get them all caught.

Treasure stared at Milan and Skye, smiled, and shook her head. Never before had she ever witnessed two people who were so identical, yet so opposite. Even if Milan hadn’t made her physical alterations by over-eating at the dinner table, she would still be able to differentiate between the two women. There would never be any mistaking the hot-headed Milan for the powerful and authoritative Skye.

She sighed deeply and placed her stilettos back on her feet. She grabbed a tube of lipstick and re-applied it. “Wake Milan up Skye, let’s relocate. Houston is getting smaller and smaller by the second. I can feel it every moment I’m awake. Pretty soon, the authorities will clasp their palms around me and squeeze the life out of me. They’ve been trying to do this for quite a while now, and I’m sure they’re cooking up a pretty good plan for catching me if they haven’t cooked it up already.”

Skye opened her eyes and frowned at Treasure. “You talking that talk like you’re the only person involved; as if you’re the only person who’s been going ham in the streets! No disrespect, but you keep saying ‘me, me, me,’ but bitch we been going harder than you! Especially Milan! My sister is laying bitches out for
absolutely nothing
!”

Treasure got up and went to the kitchen. She put on a pair of gloves and pulled a bottle of Aquafina out of the refrigerator. Out of habit, she made sure that her fingerprints were never on anything that had to go into the trash at their “bank.” She knew how hard the FBI went, and to keep them from doing a successful fingerprint analysis on her trash, she handled it in advance. She downed half of the bottle and walked back into the sitting room.

She set the bottle down on the table beside a large bundle of wrapped cash and flicked the moisture off of her gloves. “Listen Skye… your fuckin sister is laying bitches out for no other reason than her own insanely savage blood thirst. Did I give her directions to kill a fuckin karate gang? Get real bitch and stop coming at me like that, I won’t warn you again.”

Although Treasure was the leader, it was normal for her and the strong minded Skye to occasionally bump heads, but they never disagreed when it mattered. They were a solid team.

“As far as all the money we have, we’ll only take the cash that we have in this house. Our other banks, we will have to sacrifice. I can almost guarantee that the FBI is stalking those houses like TMZ. I don’t feel like being a TV star this evening. Fuck it, we can start over fresh when –”

Milan opened her eyes immediately. “What the fuck you mean
leave the money
? We worked long and hard for that cash, and we
gon
take that shit with us. What do you mean Treasure?”

With the top off, Treasure took the bottle of water and splashed it in Milan’s face. “Bitch, if you was awake, quit acting like you’re not! We leave that shit. Period. There’ll be plenty of opportunities to get that shit back when we get to where we’re going. Besides…
ya’ll
bitches don’t spend no money no muthafuckin way.
Ya’ll
just
robbin
’ niggas for the fun of it. Who the fuck does that?”